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Finding Help: Turkish-speaking Refugees and Migrants with a History of Psychosis

University College London, Gerard.leavey{at}beh-mht.nhs.uk

Taner Guvenir

Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty, Hospital of Izmir, Turkey

Silvia Haase-Casanovas

St. Mary's Hospital, London

Simon Dein

University College London

There is a large population of Turkish-speaking migrants living in London, many of whom are refugees (Enneli, Modood, & Bradley, 2005). Primary care and secondary mental health services have consistently reported poor continuity of care among patients from this community. The aim of this study was to explore the possible interconnection of causal attributions and pathways into care among Turkish-speaking, mainly Kurdish, patients with a past history of psychosis. Narratives of illness were elicited from informants. Physical symptomatology was a prominent feature of presentation in this group. These patients did not discuss their health problems conceptualized as uniform `models' of illness, but rather in an attributional style that emphasized the experience of traumatic life events, often related to the overarching problem of exile and settlement. Childhood and family issues of poverty and domestic violence were often raised by patients, but tended to be backgrounded as having little contributory significance. These patients sought intervention, serially or in combination, from a diverse range of practitioners, including private healthcare and traditional healers or hocas. Their explanatory models of illness were complex and fragmentary and the relationship between explanations and help seeking is seldom linear. The implications of these findings for health services are discussed.

Key Words: explanatory models • help seeking • Kurdish • migration • narratives • pathways • psychosis • refugee • Turkish

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